Document Exercise 1
1. Please read all of these instructions before beginning.
2. You are expected to complete this assignment independently of other students.
3. Start the assignment by reading through each document fully. Make notes about each source’s origin, purpose, content, and value (as discussed in lecture).
3. You are expected to complete all the required questions in a single document. Number your answers clearly.
4. Pay attention to each question’s point value and recommended word count.
5. You are expected to answer the questions using complete sentences and paragraphs, not in point form.
6. Please upload the document with your answers via the eclass portal. The deadline is 11:59pm on March 2, 2022.
Document 1
Poster advertising Francis Galton’s anthropometric laboratory (1884)
Document 2
Anonymous. (1888, November 16). A morning with the anthropometric detectives. Pall Mall Gazette, 1-2
Here is a description of Pall Mall Gazette.
Document 3
Letter from Lewis M. Terman to E. C. Tolman, July 15, 1921, Lewis M. Terman Papers, Stanford University
Document 4
Excerpt from Bond, H. M. (1924). Intelligence tests and propaganda. The Crisis, 28, 61-64
Here is a brief biographical sketch of its author, Horace Mann Bond. A brief description of The Crisis is available here.
Document 5
Excerpt from Fass, P. S. (1980). The IQ: A cultural and historical framework. American Journal of Education, 88(4), 431-458.
Here is a brief biography of Paula S. Fass.
Document 6
Fazackerley, A. (2018, December 6). UCL launches inquiry into historical links with eugenics. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/dec/06/ucl-launches-inquiry-into-historical-links-with-eugenics
Questions
1) Document 1 is a public advertisement. What does its existence tell you about the kind of psychology Galton pursued? (100 words max) 3 points
2) According to Documents 1 and 2, what kinds of tests did Francis Galton administer at his Anthropometric Laboratory? (100 words max) 3 points
3) How would you characterize the tone of Document 2? What kind of attitude towards Galton does it convey? (100 words max) 3 points
4) In Document 3, what kinds of qualities did Lewis Terman seek in a fieldworker contributing to his study of gifted children? To what extent do you think these qualities were related to Terman’s eugenic worldview? (100 words max) 3 points
5) In your own words, summarize the arguments Documents 4 and 5 make about the popular appeal of intelligence tests in 1920s America. Where do these accounts agree and disagree? (400 words max) 9 points
6) Document 6 offers the opinion of a number of experts on the controversy over University College London having a room named after Francis Galton. In your own words, describe 2 of these opinions. Based on your reading of all the sources, the textbook, and lectures, whose verdict do you find most convincing and why? (400 words max) 9 points
Document Exercise 1 – Notes from the Lecture
– Focus on Galton, eugenics, and intelligence testing
– The document packet includes a mixtures of articles, letters, and images
– Answer all of the questions. Some will be factual. Others interpretive.
– Start by reading through each document in the package. After you read each item, ask yourself the following questions.
Origin:
– Am I reading a primary or a secondary source?
– Who is the creator of this document?
– When was this document created?
Purpose:
– Why does this document exist?
– What were the author’s intentions in creating it?
– Why did the creator choose this format for communicating?
– Who was the intended audience(s)?
Content:
– What does the document “say”?
– What is the main idea or argument presented?
– What evidence is provided to support this argument?
Value (as a historical document):
– What can this document tell us about a) the author and/or b) the time period in which it was created?
– How do the circumstances of its creation affect the document’s form and content?
– What perspective on events does the creator hold? How does this influence how it reports upon the past? Everyone writes a particular point of view. A “biased” source is not necessarily a bad one in terms of the historian’s craft.